How long should wheels stay balanced?

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I'm getting a shimmy in my Sedona over 73 mph lately. Thing is, I had all 4 wheels Road Force balanced last July, so roughly 11 months ago. Tires are General Altimax RT43s, FWIW, with about 34,000 miles on them. When I had them balanced last year, two of the wheels were quite a bit out of balance, despite the fact that they had been balanced less than a year before also. I do know that one of my wheels is slightly bent, but I think that's been the case for pretty much every vehicle I've ever owned. Prior to this van, I've never had to re-balance wheels once I've had tires installed; not until the tires wore out and new ones were put on. So are some tires prone to needing re-balancing more often? If they keep doing this, I'd rather just buy new tires than have to keep re-balancing.
 
the key point here is 34000 miles. that is nearly 3 years for some people.

possibilities: the tire, lost wheel weight, or a belt wheel.
 
I am on my fourth set of General tires (on various cars) and I have had to have each set balanced multiple times throughout their useful life. They never seem to stay in balance long. Havent had this issue with Coopers or whatever other brands I have had over the years. I always get lifetime balancing so its not a cost issue, but having to go in every 8-12 months for a rebalance gets old, even when its free. The Coopers on my Mazda3 have over 40,000 miles on them and when they were rotating them they checked the balance and didn't even bother with new weights, they said they were still dead on. They don't vibrate at all so I didn't question it. If I had that kind of luck on either of my current General tires (240sx and Sequoia) I'd probably faint.
 
Yes, I have some General RT43s on the Camry with only 13k miles on them and I've noticed a vibration/shimmy at hwy speeds. I had them installed at the Ford Quicklane since the price was right but I thought they had free balancing along with rotations. Nope just rotations they tell me now. I called Discount Tire and they said $40 for balancing all four. Plus they have the top of the line Hunter balancer, the Elite I believe is the name.
 
When I had Toyos, Falkens, Kumhos, etc., I usually had to re-balance them at least a couple of times throughout their lives. Some needed it constantly.

With high-end Bridgestones and Continentals, not nearly so much.

With high-end Michelins.... maybe once, ever?
 
I find the sticky weights that go on the inside of the rim fall off a lot more frequently. They do look better on aluminum wheels though.
 
Tire balance issues go away at 55 miles an hour out of round issues continue to vibrate at higher speed
 
Sams club I believe lifetime rotate and balance even if you buy somewhere else for I think $12 each. My local dealer was getting pretty ugly price for the balancing so now off to Sams for a slice of pizza and a drink and browse for an hour. Most of the roads I drive will get things out of whack in a year or two. The Xterra with the 17's just doesn't seem to bother. Have a super flat piece of road and can go over 1/2 mile hands free. Most of my vehicles if they go under 1/10 mile its time to get things checked, rotated and balanced.
 
Michelins the past 15 years and I doubt I've done them more than 1-2 times for each 50,000 miles. Basically once each tire change.

Even wear all the way down to min tread depth.
 
I have found too many guys running modern high-tech wheel balance machines have never had formal training, never read the machine manual, and just do what the guy who was fired last week told them to do.

I have had to have wheels rebalanced within 100 miles of leaving the shop. Last time I asked the kid what road force # he shot for on his Hunter Road force machine... He said, "I guess what ever the machine says".

Buyer beware
 
Yeah, I've had wheel/tire assemblies brilliantly balanced using no more than an old-school bubble fixture while I've had others where even with a state of the art dynamic balancer, I had to return to have balance corrected.
It's really all about the skill of the operator.
To the OP, I've never seen any particular problems with General tires staying in balance nor have I with any other brand.
The best advice might be to find a good indie shop and stick with them.
They'll remember you when you have to bring something back and if you throw them business on the regular, they'll make it right with no charge and no excuses.
Finally, if you're driving on a bent road wheel, then you should expect some vibration.
As someone wrote years ago, you can balance a square wheel, but it won't ride very well.
Hyundais abound in the yards. Why not pick up a replacement wheel and go from there?
 
Apart from lost tyre weight, uneven tyre wear or damage, or suspension/bearing wear or damage (the latter uncorrectable by balancing) what could change to cause this?
 
If a tire's rubber layer isn't completely uniform in density or composition, its mass distribution might change as it wears. Like, there might be a spot near the surface of the tire that's a gram or two heavy, so you balance that out -- but once that spot wears away, the tire needs to be rebalanced.
 
Originally Posted By: d00df00d
If a tire's rubber layer isn't completely uniform in density or composition, its mass distribution might change as it wears. Like, there might be a spot near the surface of the tire that's a gram or two heavy, so you balance that out -- but once that spot wears away, the tire needs to be rebalanced.


Makes sense. So early balancing requirement is an indication of non-uniform construction, which MIGHT in turn be an indication of relatively poor quality.
 
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